There appears to be a lack of knowledge on campus of what the Student Government Association (SGA) does. And inversely we, the Senate, feel that to work better we need to keep the students of UVM well informed, so that they can tell us of their annoyances and problems with the school. We are starting this weekly column in the fabulous Cynic- telling you what the Senate actually does, what is happening on campus, and ways for the common student to get more involved. But first an overview of the SGA….. -About the Senate-

The SGA meets every Tuesday at 7:00 in Marsh Lounge in Billings. We consist of 40 students from all around the University from many various backgrounds. Most of us are outgoing and involved- chances are you know at least one of us.

The Senate oversees the various clubs on campus. W e control whether or not they become actual clubs, the amount they get in their budgets, and make sure that they remain active on campus. This unfortunately can lead to us being seen in a negative light for not providing the requested amount in budgets, this is due to our budget that we are provided with, which is never large enough, and hence we can never provide clubs with the funding they desire.

The Senate also deals with the Administration; we try to provide an example of the Student’s opinion to such people as President Fogel or Police Chief Gary Margolis. This is our attempt to represent our fellow students, and hopefully make the administration more student-friendly.

We have also been working hard to get the City Council of Burlington to recognize the students’ point of view. We have worked on reforming the Noise Ordinance, and just overall respect for the UVM student from Burlington Police officers etc. This is an uphill battle that has met a lot of resistance, and thus far not too many huge successes, but we are not going to give up.

That is the brief overview of the Student Government Association. However we cannot keep working for the students without student input, and thus we are making this column to inform you of what great things are going on out there on and off campus, and what you can do to get involved.

Furthermore we request that if there is any problem that you have with the University of Vermont, and feel that SGA should do something about it write to us at: tixmeoff@zoo.uvm.edu